Thursday, April 26, 2012

Book Club: What the Dog Saw

This month I hosted book club.  In our group, the hostess picks the book.  I waffled, I debated, I had to be talked down from suggestion Ayn Rand more than once, but months ago I decided I'd go with either Mary Roach or Malcolm Gladwell.  While we read a lot of "Chick Lit" I wanted to choose a book that was a little more me while still being approachable.

Eventually, Terrence convinced me to go with the newest Gladwell book What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures.




It wasn't hard to convince me, I really like Gladwell (while despising him, of course) and Terrence convinced me he finally gave up on shoving that square peg into the round hold.  Well, maybe not entirely.

The excellent thing about Gladwell is he is a fantastic researcher and an entertaining writer.  I sometimes think of his as the Huell Howser of human psychology.  Huell Howser is a local TV personality who can literally be SO excited about a group of rocks some man in the desert collects that despite yourself, you are compelled to watch a little more closely just in case you're missing something in that group of rocks.

Who, besides Gladwell, could make an entire chapter on Ketchup and mustard?  Who could then go on to also write about the history of women, through the lens of birth control and hair dye, and the lessons of the Challenger Tragedy?


As I read the first chapter, I became concerned that some of the women would give up on the book before finishing the first chapter.  But the great thing about the book was each article was stand alone.  I hoped everyone would find one they could relate too.

In the end, several did give up on the book.  But the topics are so relevant that we were still able to have meaningful and interesting discussion even with those who didn't finish the book.

I'm interested in next months book as well, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

Anyone reading anything else interesting?

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Color Run!

A few months ago my sister made the fantastic suggestion that we should participate in the So Cal Color Run.

The basic idea is that it's an untimed 5k run where every 1k there is a color station where they throw color on all of the runners.

I was unable to participate this year, but at the last minute found a pinch runner and served as the official photographer instead (I didn't do a very good job and managed to grossly overexpose a good portion of my pictures):







See you next year crazy messy run and 12000 of my closest friends!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Oh Hi.

So I've disappeared for a bit.

But I'm back!

I'll share a few adventures that have happened in the meantime via photograph:

Found an all time favorite beer:


Learned to make cappuccino for Gavin:


Spent a lot of time exploring the world with this handsome man:

Oh ya, THIS came....: (and while it looks like in in this picture, I didn't become a vampire)


Celebrated having an Irish name on the most of Irish of holidays:


Where have you been lately?